In honor of Mother’s Day, we’re celebrating some of the celebrity moms who became new parents in the year since last Mother’s Day, some for the first time, others not. These are the ones we think most successfully negotiated the turbulent waters between cool and cuckoo.

If you were AndersonCooper and you had been born in Germany, you wouldn’t be AndersonCooper, because Germany is just one of a surprising number of countries with strict baby-naming rules and regulations. In some instances, as in Italy and Sweden, the motivation is humane—trying to spare the child embarrassment, ridicule and bullying in the increasingly wild and wooly international baby-name environment. In fact, some of these are not long-standing strictures, but relatively recent ones.

There are some names that we’ve become so accustomed to seeing on the covers of People et al, attached to the babes of Tinseltown, that we assume that their popularity has instantly spread beyond the confines of Malibu and Calabasas. But it ain’t necessarily so. There are several appellations worn by more than one starbaby that have yet to hit the current Top 1000 list—though this could change with the new rankings coming next month! Some of these names did have some nineteenth or twentieth century success, others have never entered the list at all.

One syllable ‘B’ names have been particularly noticeable this year. Beau/Bo and Bay have proven to be popular unisex choices while vintage Bea is also seeing a revival as both a nickname for rising Beatrice and Beatrix and a stand-alone choice. All three have been particularly popular this year as short and sweet middle names

Similarly, Bear not only made headlines as the name of KateWinslet’s newborn son recently, it has also seen action as a middle name in the UK this year, much akin to JamieOliver’s BuddyBearMorris. Some intrepid British parents are using Bear as a creative nickname for Arthur; others are braving it as a first name.